Chapter 296: The Tactic

A group of space knights walked forward and approached Sigfried. 

"We are here to escort you to see Captain Jenkins," said one of the figures to Sigfried.

There were two squads of the prominent space knights and about fifty space troopers standing in front of them. This entourage was the escorts sent to welcome their arrival. All of these people were led by an officer, a bald guy in a black uniform standing behind the troopers who welcomed Sigfried and Tristan.

Even though they had been informed that it was an ally who was on board, these space troopers didn't let their guard down at all. Tristan could literally feel their sharp gazes all over him as Sigfried led the group out of the Firefly. Truly, a highly disciplined troop.

"Alright, troopers. You can lead the way." Sigfried said as he nodded. "But please take good care of one of my men here. She's badly injured."

The space trooper who greeted Sigfried turned his head and looked at the officer. The man nodded and made a gesture. Immediately after, a few of the space troopers swiftly entered the Firefly and came out carrying the unconscious female space acolyte.

The reason Tristan brought the female space acolyte was to fill in the remaining one man of the Grey Wolf Unit. So naturally, he had already drugged her enough to make her unconscious to not ruin the plan.

And like what Tristan had hoped, the presence and current condition of the female space acolyte had successfully made the welcoming group divided. A dozen space troopers led by five of the space knights were off the equation as they needed to escort the female acolyte to their medical facility.

It seemed what Sigfried told him was true, that a space acolyte had quite a standing within the human alliance. This information was evident by how carefully they were treating her at the moment, despite her current state of unconsciousness.

The current situation was pretty good to Tristan's plan, because it would be easier for the plan to work the less people looked after them.

In the end, fifteen space knights were tasked by the officer to escort Tristan and the others, leading them away from the hangar. Meanwhile, the rest of the space troopers were ordered to stay and secure the Firefly.

As they were escorted out of the hangar, Tristan didn't waste his chance to observe his surroundings. He finally realized how big this spaceship was, as the hangar inside it was as high as a four-story building.

At the moment, Tristan and the others, who were surrounded by the space knights, were walking through a futuristic-looking corridor as they were led to a place. From here on, Sigfried previously said everything would be unpredictable.

Apparently, their destination would be completely dependent on Captain Jenkins' objective. 

They would be brought to the brig if they were suspected by the other party, where they would be interrogated. If Captain Jenkins held no objective from them, these space knights would lead them to the officer quarter. Meanwhile, if the man trusted them enough, they could be led to the hub of the spaceship, the bridge.

Sigfried, however, couldn't be sure of what their objective was. Thus, the reason for his early warning. Moreover, Tristan hadn't heard the word of blood elf being said nor mentioned so far

This meant that these people came here for one reason only, Captain Sigfried.

However, Tristan didn't want to let his fate in the hands of chance - whatever their objective was.

When the plan was formulated, Tristan set their priority as the spaceship's engine room, instead of its captain. This was out of the norm as any strategist in a battle would always advise to handle the head of the troops, which in this case, Captain Jenkins. But, he felt that solution wasn't correct for a situation such as this.

The worst case situation in Tristan's book was not a situation where the captain of the spaceship suddenly brought hundreds of fighters surrounding him. No.

It was a situation where the environment itself was against him.

Having the spaceship standing on the opposite side of him was a nightmare of its own. Tristan clearly didn't want to find himself in front of a tightly closed door, facing a defensive mechanism, and worst of all, being unknowingly taken into outer space and whisked away from the planet.

Therefore, he had to take over the engine room at all costs.

As the one who knew the cruiser ship's standard blueprint, Sigfried was the focal point of the plan. Earlier, Tristan had instructed him that as soon as they reached the area closest to the engine room, the man would give him a signal.

"You are Sigfried of the Grey Wolf, aren't you?" said one of the two space knight squad leaders escorting Tristan and the others.

Sigfried turned to the person speaking and replied, "Yes, I am."

"Wow.. You are a famous figure, captain." He said. "How did you end up so far from the frontline?"

Sigfried decided to ignore the man's question, but the other party apparently didn't stop. He looked at the two people walking behind Sigfried, Rayna and Wash, who were supposedly the members of his unit.

"I'm sorry. I guess you don't want to talk after losing your unit members… again." 

The comment was followed with a mocking laugh, but Sigfried maintained his silence and expressionless face.

It seemed Sigfried's indifferent attitude irritated the squad leader, as the man decided to bother Rayna and Wash who were under cover.

"Don't you guys know who your captain is? He is a legend among the ranks of space knights."

While Rayna and Wash kept their mouths shut, the other squad leader chose to join the party.

"Yeah, sure. Legend of keep losing his men, that is."

Fortunately for Tristan, under the influence of his [Blood Seal], Sigfried was able to control his emotions better. He remained silent despite the mockery, and continued to ignore the two.

The first squad leader was about to continue his act when his associate, the other squad leader, suddenly shouted, "Stop!"

The man turned around and said, "I just realized none of you have spoken all this time!" This was directed at Rayna and Wash, who were still hiding behind the power armor.

"Open your helmet!"

Seeing that the two didn't answer nor budge, he quickly raised his weapon and said, "Open it, NOW!"

The first squad leader also became alert as he raised his weapon, followed by the other space knights.

In the midst of this tense situation, to their surprise, neither of them spoke. Instead, it was the chained white-haired elf.

"I really wish we could have gone further, but I guess this is as far as we can go."

Before they could question what the white-haired elf meant, the space knights were dumbfounded by the scene that unfolded before them. In the blink of an eye, half a dozen boomerang-like blades were formed around the elf and flew toward the surrounding space knights.

Swish!

…

This was reality, where things didn't always go as planned. There was nothing Tristan could do when this happened, other than adapt and improvise.

The moment he realized their cover was blown, Tristan swiftly activated [Blood Synthesis] and created six familiar-looking blades that were comparable to tier 3 weapons. Without the slightest bit of hesitation, he immediately ordered his blades to go towards their target.

The space knights who were caught off guard were immediately dealt serious damage by the blades. The power armor that they wore was unable to stop Tristan's blades. As a result, they easily cut through the protection the armor provided and hit the space knight inside.

As the result of Tristan's sudden attack, five of the six space knights walking in front of him were either killed or incapacitated. In the meantime, the only one who was barely able to dodge the deadly attack was moderately injured.

Tristan turned his gaze to the surviving space knights and said, "How amazing. You can dodge my attack at such close range."

On the other hand, Rayna and Sigfried also did not remain silent. They quickly lunged and attacked the closest space knight to them. Meanwhile, Wash dropped his body to the floor, giving his best not to be conspicuous.

Recovering from their dumbfounded state, the rest of the space knights quickled aimed their weapons toward Tristan and the others.

"What is the meaning of this, Sigfried?!! What are you doing?!" shouted one of the squad leaders as he was tackled down by Sigfried. Even though he currently didn't wear his power armor, the scar-faced captain was still strong enough to bring and hold the man down.

While the other space knights were hesitant on what they should do, the officer on the back, however, was the decisive kind. He immediately sent down the order.

"Shoot them all!!"

Rain of bullets flew through the air as the corridor suddenly turned into a battlefield.